Mud Fight (1)
Throwing.
Aiming a projectile and hurling it—throwing is a human skill with tens of thousands of years of history.
Spears.
Rocks.
Common projectiles seen on the battlefield.
Dong Zhuo's army chose the most primitive projectile: mud. Swinging their throwing pouches in circles to build centrifugal force, they scattered lumps of mud, molded like rice cakes, across the positions of Liu Chong's army.
Splat—!
Spla-ter—!!
"General! The Bladed War Wagons won't move!"
"It's a bog of mud everywhere! We can barely tell what's in front of us!"
Mud.
You can make an unlimited supply of it so long as you have water and dirt.
Throwing pouches.
All you needed was some cloth folded into the shape of a pouch.
Thousands of Dong Zhuo soldiers scattered heaps of mud. As if avenging the devastating losses suffered by Ma Teng's and Han Sui's forces, they dropped mud onto the heads of Liu Chong's troops, covering the Bladed War Wagons.
"I received reports that suspicious movement was detected inside Dong Zhuo's camp at dawn... Looks like they spent all night playing in the dirt. I never imagined they'd prepare this much mud."
Complex and obscure tactics are not always the best option.
The simpler and more convenient,
and the more familiar a tactic is, the more its true worth shines.
The sight of Dong Zhuo's soldiers slinging their throwing pouches with such skill proved that worth. They had thrown mud and rocks in play since they were little urchins, so their proficiency was inevitable.
"Don't panic. It doesn't matter if the Bladed War Wagons are immobilized. All officers and men, grip your weapons and prepare for close combat. The general engagement is about to begin."
"Yes, Crown Prince!"
The whole field was a morass of mud.
It was hard even to take a step.
Draped in muck, the wheels of the Bladed War Wagons would not budge. Officers and men, plastered with mud from head to toe, wiped each other's faces and checked their condition.
"The bastards are buried in mud! Charge!"
"Anyone who retreats dies, regardless of rank! Fight ready to give your lives!"
The light infantry of Dong Zhuo's army, who had hurled the muck with throwing pouches, commenced their charge. The heavy infantry who had been screening them stepped forward with heavy tread as well.
The Bladed War Wagons were useless now.
Buried in mud, the Wagons had become so heavy that turning them was impossible.
Good.
The Iron Fortress was wavering.
The light infantry of Dong Zhuo's army, boasting swift mobility, rushed into Liu Chong's lines.
"They're coming!"
"Aim the Repeating Crossbows! All Repeating Crossbow units, fire at will!"
Just as they had when shattering Ma Teng's and Han Sui's forces, the Archers and Crossbowmen aimed at the Dong Zhuo troops up front. Determined to turn the enemy into pincushions, they gripped the Repeating Crossbow handles linked to the levers.
Grind—
Cru-unch—
A noise of grit grinding sounded, the result of foreign matter jammed into the gaps between the Repeating Crossbow's components.
Mud had gotten into the bolt canisters.
It was impossible to pull the handles that acted as triggers.
The weapons had reached the point where discharging was impossible unless they were completely disassembled and cleaned.
Unlike typical handheld crossbows, the Repeating Crossbow was a fixed weapon used in conjunction with a lever. So naturally, like the Bladed War Wagons deployed at the front line, it was smothered in mud.
"Any Repeating Crossbows still able to fire, shoot!"
"Let's turn the Xiliang rebels into pincushions, every last one of them!!"
Fully half the Repeating Crossbows were reduced to scrap.
But the other half were still functioning fine.
That was because, upon seeing the mudballs flying from the enemy camp, the crossbowmen had instinctively sensed the danger and protected their weapons with rags.
The Repeating Crossbows were still in the fight.
They made that fact clear to Dong Zhuo's army with a ferocious volley.
* * *
Light infantry stripped their armor and weapons down to the bare minimum to achieve swift mobility. To such light infantry, a hail of arrows blanketing the sky was no different from a grim reaper.
Thwip—!
Thwip-thwick-thwick-thwick—!!
The Repeating Crossbow is markedly inferior in power compared to an ordinary bow or crossbow.
But,
against unarmored light infantry, it was enough.
The only protection the light infantry had was lightweight leather armor. The sharp arrows tore straight through that lightweight leather in an instant.
"They are not to be taken lightly, after all. Liu Chong's Archers and Crossbowmen are not wavering in the slightest."
"Hmm...!"
Even drenched in mud, they did not waver.
They only pressed their counterattack against the foe.
Veteran and skilled.
Liu Chong's army's strength lay in its seasoned experience.
A beauty with flowing dark-gray hair stared out over a battlefield filled with blood and corpses. Though the scene was horrifying, her yellow eyes merely surveyed the field coolly.
"The bastards are shooting their bows!"
"We'll all die at this rate! Over the wagons! Infantry, hook up the ladders now!"
Dong Zhuo's light infantry collapsed under the countless volleys. But the brave warriors of Xiliang, undeterred by the sacrifice of their comrades, lifted the Cloud Ladders.
Cloud Ladders.
The tools for surmounting the defensive box of Bladed War Wagons.
The light infantry formed a path as they attached one Cloud Ladder after another to the now-useless Bladed War Wagons.
"Brothers, leap over the wagons and advance!"
"The first brave warrior to break through the enemy lines will be granted the title Marquis of Ten Thousand Households by the Elder himself!"
Left General Li Jue. Right General Guo Si.
The Twin Pillars of Dong Zhuo's army were committed to the front line.
They commanded a general offensive, raising their sharp blades high. At the order, the rank and file of Dong Zhuo's army started clambering over the ironclad wagons via the Cloud Ladders.
"Over you go! Keep climbing the Cloud Ladders without stopping!"
"Where is the follow-up echelon! Keep pressing the officers and men forward!"
General of the Guards Niu Fu. General Who Conquers the North Zhang Ji.
It was the same with Dong Zhuo's son-in-law and his subordinate Deputy General.
Having committed to a general offensive, Dong Zhuo's army attacked simultaneously from three sides, just as they had done against Ma Teng's and Han Sui's armies. It was to keep the pressure on Liu Chong's army while they were smothered in mud.
"Elder Director of the Palace Gentlemen, how do you assess the battle situation?"
"Have the fierce generals not seized the ascendancy! Liu Chong's army is cornered like a sewer rat! Your scheme is truly outstanding!"
Advancing like a tide, Dong Zhuo's army began to squeeze the forces of Liu Chong that had been relying on the Bladed War Wagons. The sight of Dong Zhuo's officers and men swarming up the Cloud Ladders into the enemy camp was reminiscent of an angry beehive.
They had seized the upper hand.
The Bladed War Wagons were as good as junk.
Many of the Repeating Crossbows were the same.
As the soldiers on both sides plunged into close combat, the volleys of arrows gradually slackened. Clearly, the shooting had stopped out of fear of hitting their own men.
"Orders from the main camp!"
"From this moment, the Long Spearmen and shield-bearers will fall back!"
The Long Spearmen and shield-bearers of Liu Chong's army who had been blocking Dong Zhuo's troops began slowly withdrawing. Seeing this movement, Dong Zhuo's army pressed their advantage by committing successive follow-up echelons to the battle.
They were winning.
Weren't the bastards retreating?
The southern bumpkins who had lost their Bladed War Wagons and Repeating Crossbows were nothing but a rabble.
"Push the Bladed War Wagons! We must create a breach so our men can get through!"
"Ngh...! They're caked with mud, too heavy! The best we can do is crack a gap!"
They had seized the square formation deployed in a horseshoe shape using the Bladed War Wagons. To secure an avenue of approach, Dong Zhuo's army deployed scores of men to shove away the obstacles impeding the advance.
But the wagons would not budge.
They only managed to pivot a wagon slightly, creating a gap barely wide enough for one soldier to pass through.
"Ha ha ha! Our men are filing in smoothly! The wagons and crossbows are all junk in a single moment—what counterattack can the southern bumpkins possibly mount now?"
"General of the Guards, it appears that the Left General and Right General have also seized the advantage."
"We cannot let those low-born wretches steal our glory! General Who Conquers the North, urge your troops on and press Liu Chong's army harder!"
"Yes! Right away!"
Victory or defeat in battle hinges on momentum.
You must not lose momentum.
You have to keep pressing as if you are riding a tiger and can't let go.
As the climbers on the Cloud Ladders kept surmounting the Bladed War Wagons and breaking into Liu Chong's main camp, Niu Fu, observing Xiliang's proud warriors, spurred the general offensive on even harder.
"Now! Wipe out all the enemies who have infiltrated our main camp!"
When well over ten thousand Dong Zhuo troops had crossed the Bladed War Wagons,
Liu Chong's army shifted to the offensive.
Piiiiiiiiing──!!!
A whistling arrow shot out, signaling the counterattack.
The instant the arrow's sharp scream reverberated across the field, Sun Jian's army launched its counterblow.
"These whelps came right in as if they don't know what a tiger is!"
"They're isolated! Slaughter them all!!"
The Long Spearmen and shield-bearers who had withdrawn from the frontline were committed, ambushing Dong Zhuo's army. As Liu Chong's troops counterattacked as if they had been waiting for this moment, the Dong Zhuo soldiers sensed that something was wrong.
A counterattack by Liu Chong's army at the front,
and the mud-caked Bladed War Wagons bottling up their rear, blocking the escape route.
Was it because of seething martial ardor?
Or was it fury demanding vengeance for their comrades?
They had made a rash and foolish judgment.
The muddy battlefield they had rashly stepped into was the worst possible death ground for Dong Zhuo's army.